APBNEWS.com STAFF HOPEFUL SITE CAN BE SAVED

By: Joe Strupp As Clock Ticks, Journalists Keep Working



If you look around the 16th floor newsroom of APBNews.com's downtown
Manhattan offices this week, there is little evidence that the 18-month-

old news site has run out of money. Despite Monday's announcement by
Chairman and CEO Marshall Davidson that the crime news site could no
longer pay its 140 staffers, few reporters and editors had left as of
late Tuesday.



The sounds of clattering keyboards and ringing phones indicated the news
team continues to plug along with daily stories, special projects, and
long-term plans for coverage.


'Every single person in here is fired; they are not getting paid,' said
Vice President and Executive Editor Hoag Levins, as he led a reporter
through the busy newsroom. 'After the announcement, most of the staff
went back to their machines, began writing stories and almost all of
them have been in.'



After Davidson told the staff Monday that new investors had not been
found, staffers were invited to remain as volunteers while the founders
desperately search for new funding. Levins said about 75% of the
workforce has remained, a figure supported by the crowded newsroom.
Operations will likely continue for at least the next three to five
days.



'This is a job to us, but it is also a very new and exciting
opportunity,' said Don Pine, the 51-year-old manager of news operations,
whose experience includes stints at the Associated Press and The
Oakland (Calif.) Tribune. 'We still want to see it succeed.
What else can we do? Sit home and watch TV?'



Pine's views were echoed by others in the APBNews rank and file, who
said they were willing to stay at work if there is even a slim chance of
the site being saved.



'We're optimistic and we're hopeful,' said Tami Sheheri, a former Inside
Edition producer who joined APBNews.com when it launched in November
1998 and headed the site's freedom of information efforts. 'We're like
family. This place has done so much, we don't want to leave.'



Some staffers said privately that many are in denial. But the volunteers
seem realistic. While working on their APBNews projects, staffers are
sharing employment leads with each other.



While the site is credited with breaking new ground in Internet
journalism, the Nasdaq crash of Net stocks in April spooked new
investors. 'It was hard to get investors,' said Joe Krakoviak, an
APBNews.com spokesman. 'There was a seismic shift when the market
changed the way it valued Internet companies in general, and content
providers in particular.'



Since its launch, APBNews.com had made a name for itself among both
online and traditional media outlets. Its efforts to dig up government
records drew praise from many journalism veterans. In its short
lifetime, the site received awards from the Scripps Howard Foundation,
The Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and
Editors. The site also signed on notables such as Pulitzer Prize-winner
Sydney Schanberg and O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark.



Krakoviak said the Web site received an initial investment of $3.5
million in mid 1998, followed by an additional $20 million in 1999.
Earlier this year, another $3.6 million had been obtained by co-founders
Davidson, Mark Sauter, and Matthew Cohen. But, when the recent stock
drop occurred, Krakoviak said the potential investors backed out.



APBNews.com officials would not give revenue figures or estimated losses
that forced the layoffs, but reports in other publications say the site
is about $7 million in the red and has only $50,000 cash on hand.
Sources close to the Web site said negotiations had been ongoing with
several companies, including Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., but nothing
had been brought to fruition yet.


Time is quickly running out. 'I have confidence that something can be
done,' said Tom Gatto, APBNews.com syndications editor who joined 10
months ago. 'The people in charge have put too much time into this to
just watch it end in a day or two.'



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